Witch Hunter: Lord of Lust and Sin

Chapter 118: Land of Mystery [Part 11]

As the chaos raged on, atop a distant hill overlooking the whole battlefield, a hooded man clad in rags stared blankly at the war that was going on.

"You’ve snuck in during the chaos... still as sneaky and cunning as ever I see~"

Behind the man echoed a chilling voice, he turned his head to witness the shadows of a nearby tree rise from the ground and take the form of a woman.

"The Dún Witch? I see... no wonder that blue bitch got hold of my army... but I guess that was to be expected huh? What did I expect from a barbarian, a thief? Birds of a feather do indeed flock together after all "

The old man spoke in a condescending tone as he turned his attention back to the ongoing battle.

"Some strong words from a man whose greatest accomplishment was stealing the wealth of others"

The woman, a familiar face, the same woman who had spoken with Freyja before the war snickered.

Her figure was still clad in shadows, all one could see was her figure which was something that left little to the imagination.

Fine curves with a good sized bust, hips and thighs yet with a slim waist-

"So what does someone who has stolen from such a thief want with their victim? As you can see, I have nothing left of value"

"How about revenge?"

The old man’s eyes under the hood sharpened as his body immediately pulsed with strength unbefitting that of his image of a "frail old man".

"I barely harmed the temporary vessel and you’re already acting like this?"

The old man seemed to recall a certain event from the recent past, a small hiccup in his centuries of travel. But even then, such a small incident should not have been a huge problem.

"The fact that you dared to harm me shows your position"

But the woman obviously didn’t see it the same way as the old man.

To the old beggar, his actions were akin to a greeting but to the woman, his actions were a slight that could not be forgiven.

"Now who is it that moves through this world with endless pride and arrogance? Did I really lose everything against warriors who wished for a better world or did I just give up my place to a new set of tyrants?"

The old beggar chuckled as he turned to face the shadow.

"Unfortunately, what you see as tyranny is what we see as true peace"

The woman retorted calmly, treating the old beggar’s words as nothing but a joke, the ramblings of a loser who still can’t get over their defeat.

"What’s the difference? We simply rule over those that wish to be ruled, sometimes we call for sacrifices and other times we demand things. Yes, we did treat them like slaves but what’s the difference between what we did and what you did?"

The old man did not speak with anger or hate, he gave the woman his argument with a strange eloquence.

His words carried an air- not of authority but of intellect, something akin to a sage’s wisdom.

"What’s the difference? The world right now is at peace, people fight but those fights are of their own making. Not the whim of a "God" wishing for war, moreover, you dare to compare our world to yours? Hah! Unlike you who reveled in the fear of your subjects, we simply watch over the living"

The shadows surged, not with rage but with joy, it gave off the image of an individual laughing.

"So? The separation is still there, the mystics still look down on the non-mystics."

The old beggar did not seem all that bothered with the mocking words of the shadow as he responded calmly.

"Separation is necessary, but we don’t rule, we simply observe"

Hearing the response of the shadows, the old begar was unable to remain calm as he let out a light chuckle.

"Observe? I’ve seen many of your people kidnap, r*pe, torture and do other twisted acts on non-mystics. Is that "observation"? Then our acts should be considered a different form of "observation" as well, no?"

The old beggar’s response did not trigger the shadow of anger, instead the woman clad in darkness responded with the same mocking tone she had ever since their conversation started.

"It’s been centuries and you’re still trying to excuse your actions? Old man, your time has come to an end, you’ve been given a chance to reflect and yet you still carry the same stupid pride you had back then!"

The woman did not raise her voice, she only mocked the old man. Others would have raged at this point and a prideful man should have stood up for a fight yet-

"Hm?"

The woman found it weird that the old man was just silently watching.

"Oho~"

But the woman’s curiosity lasted for a moment as she realized what had happened.

"It seems that your wandering was useless after all!"

Although the old man tried to hide it, the woman could easily see through the old man’s silence.

Indeed, the old man should have long started to rage, even now, he still carried the pride and madness he had when he was at the top of the world.

But his loss that day left him scars that were not mere psychological marks.

Below the rags which he called robes, the old man hid a large black tattoo. One that continuously ate away at his existence.

Not his power, not his life, nor his strength, it ate away at the very existence which gave him life.

For a mystical being at his level, life was not based on the same principle as many other mystics, especially those modern mystical beings that had turned up due to belief.

The old man was a mystical being who existed alongside the earth, he was a natural creation of the world at its inception.

For someone like him, his life was eternal for long as the world existed.

That or when he was killed- as stupid as it sounded, there were existences who can’t die even if they are killed or turned into ash.

Such beings were the ones who were truly immortal and their existence could return back from oblivion so long as the source of their being remained intact.

The old beggar was one such being but the death of those like him was not impossible.

For example, his children, wife and other people who bore the same eternity as him had long perished or vanished.

The culprit was a mage who was a mix between one of their own and a mortal who could barely live for half a century-

No... it should be possible for them to live a century now right?

The old man thought as he did his best to hold back his own reaction.

The pain that was coursing through his body was something he had to endure for centuries now.

It was a curse that was placed upon him the moment he lost to the mad mage of roses.

"Merlin’s curse... to think that he placed such a thing on you... it seems your punishment has yet to come to an end old man hahahaha!"

Seeing through the old man’s state, the shadow laughed aloud.

She had thought that the old man was trying to look for opportunities but with how things stood, the old man could barely think of doing something bad before his whole body would seize due to the pain.

But I never thought that the curse Merlin placed on him was this bad... I wonder what kind of curse it is?

Although she understood what had been affecting the old beggar, the shadow woman still did not know the true nature of the curse.

She wanted to further examine the old man but such an act would not only reveal the old beggar’s existence but her own nature and identity would be exposed as well.

Right now, she was simply using a projection to observe things from the shadows, a power that gave her quite a substantial amount of information.

I dunno who it was but the idiot who made the darkness a place to "keep secrets" really did me a great favor

She thought as the woman had been able to create a title that gave her even more power.

For beings like her, the title one bore carried with it a meaning that was not simply a show of "authority" but a real form of authority.

-Lord of Secrets-

That was her title, one that she created after listening in to secrets of those that spoke behind closed doors.

It was human nature to keep secrets behind darkness, while some preferred leaving secrets out in the open, most humans kept their secrets locked behind the shadows.

Her domain allowed her to obtain any and all secret information that was available.

Moreover, the shadows’ parallel existence with light allowed her to access even knowledge that was kept out in the open.

"The brighter the light, the deeper the shadows"

Nothing could be hidden from her-

But recently, some mystics were able to create ways to evade even her network.

This was especially true for Richard whose entire group was shrouded by a darkness even greater than hers-

A primordial darkness that her shadows could not intervene in...

"A sly wench who only knows how to hide in the shadows have no right to chide me!"

The old man seemed to have finally lost his temper, yet not a single ounce of power could be felt from him.

The madness that once gave him power was now giving him pain- the endless strength that allowed him to dominate others through rage, madness and pride was now putting him in an endless cycle of pain and suffering.

This is fun~

The woman in the shadows chuckled as she thought of what to do about the newly obtained information...